John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969), a Victorian novel with 20th century outlook, is a wonder of contemporary fiction where Fowles has introduced novel techniques of experimentation and versatility of style making it a postmodern text. Fowles has woven in his oeuvre novel techniques like epigraphs, intertextual echoes, authorial digressions, intrusions etc through which the conflict between the Victorian and the Modern world is dexterously given expression. The present paper proposes to establish a link between the text and the epigraphs, and show thereby their interplay.
Table of Contents
1. INTERFACING TEXT AND PARATEXTS: JOHN FOWLES’ THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN
Research Objectives and Themes
This paper examines how John Fowles utilizes epigraphs as paratextual and intertextual elements in his novel The French Lieutenant's Woman to bridge the gap between Victorian settings and postmodern narrative techniques. The primary objective is to demonstrate how these epigraphs create a dialogic relationship with the main text, intensifying the conflict between Victorian tradition and modern outlooks while guiding the reader's interpretation of the characters' pursuit of existential freedom.
- Analysis of epigraphs as "paratexts" and "intertextual" devices.
- Exploration of the "Victorian-Modern" conflict through literary and historical allusions.
- Examination of Fowles' use of irony and "polyphony of voices" to comment on the plot.
- Evaluation of how paratexts contribute to characters' development and existential realization.
- Assessment of Fowles' experimental narrative structure and the role of the reader.
Excerpt from the Book
INTERFACING TEXT AND PARATEXTS: JOHN FOWLES’ THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN
John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969), a Victorian novel with 20th century outlook, is a wonder of contemporary fiction where Fowles has introduced novel techniques of experimentation and versatility of style making it a postmodern text. Fowles has woven in his oeuvre novel techniques like epigraphs, intertextual echoes, authorial digressions, intrusions etc through which the conflict between the Victorian and the Modern world is dexterously given expression. The present paper proposes to establish a link between the text and the epigraphs, and show thereby their interplay. The novel was published in 1969 but the time frame takes us hundred years back to the Victorian period, to the year 1867. In an analysis William Stephenson has quoted Cooper in this regard:
The novel’s telescoping of two centuries may be understood as Fowles’ effort to textualize, appropriate, and rewrite the nineteenth century itself. Under the auspices of that historical destabilization which the book effects, allusions to Victorian thinkers and scientists like Mayhem, Mill, Darwin and Marx abound. The narrator as authorial surrogate chooses, edits, and situates these quotations for his own purposes, and in so doing he constructs his own version of nineteenth century social and intellectual history. (Stephenson 61).
Fowles’ use of epigraphs is not merely to lend grandness to the style or just a pose at experimentation, rather they emerge as ‘paratexts’ and play an ‘intertextual’ role. To establish such paratextual and intertextual role is what the present paper will journey towards.
Summary of Chapters
1. INTERFACING TEXT AND PARATEXTS: JOHN FOWLES’ THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN: This chapter introduces the theoretical framework of paratexts and intertextuality, setting the foundation for how Fowles uses Victorian epigraphs to construct a postmodern narrative and establish a dialogue between the nineteenth-century setting and twentieth-century consciousness.
Keywords
John Fowles, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Paratexts, Intertextuality, Victorian Literature, Postmodernism, Epigraphs, Existentialism, Narrative Technique, Sarah Woodruff, Charles Smithson, Polyphony, Literary Criticism, Marxism, Determinism
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this paper?
The paper focuses on the function of epigraphs in John Fowles’ novel, analyzing them as paratextual and intertextual bridges that connect the Victorian setting with a modern, postmodern perspective.
What are the primary themes explored?
The key themes include the conflict between Victorian and modern values, the nature of freedom and existentialism, the role of the narrator, and the interaction between a text and its surrounding paratexts.
What is the author's central research question?
The research investigates how Fowles utilizes epigraphs to create a link between the text and the broader intellectual history of the 19th century, and how this interplay defines the novel's experimental structure.
Which scientific or literary methods are applied?
The author applies the theoretical framework of Gerard Genette regarding paratexts and Graham Allen's theories on intertextuality to perform a close reading of selected epigraphs from the novel.
What is the focus of the main body of the paper?
The main body systematically analyzes various epigraphs from chapters throughout the novel, showing how they echo specific scenes, provide irony, or offer philosophical commentary on the characters' actions.
What key terminology defines this work?
Key terms include "paratext," "intertextual resonance," "polyphony of voices," "Victorian-Modern conflict," and "existential freedom."
How do the epigraphs affect the reader's understanding of Charles and Sarah?
The epigraphs act as mirrors to the characters' internal struggles, highlighting their quest for identity and the often ironic tension between their desires and the social constraints of their environment.
What does the author conclude regarding Fowles' use of epigraphs?
The author concludes that Fowles' use of epigraphs is justified and highly successful, as they move beyond decorative elements to become vital tools that establish causal relations and deepen the novel's philosophical merit.
- Quote paper
- Hasina Wahida (Author), 2012, Interfacing Text and Paratexts: John Fowles´ "The French Lieutenant's Woman", Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/189673
